Tagged: Javier Vazquez

It was a pitchers’ duel, in which Javier Vazquez prevailed. I have to give credit to the Orioles’ Brian Matusz, who pitched a gem. He only gave up one earned run. The other two runs were defensive errors, so he’s not to blame. Matusz really seems to pitch well against division rivals, and he did so in this game.

The winner of the duel was Javier Vazquez, who gave us an excellent start. He pitched seven beautiful innings, in which he gave up one run on four hits, walked one, and struck out seven. The one run he gave up, a solo home run, was really the only mistake he made this game. He pitched a true gem, and I’m glad the Yankees managed to score in the seventh inning, because he truly deserved that W.

I was a little bothered by some of the comments about Javy, during and after the game.

One fan asked “Who is this pitcher, and what has he done with the real Javier Vazquez?”

Hello. This is the real Javier Vazquez. A solid, innings-eating starting pitcher, who stocks up on strikeouts and rakes in the wins. What we saw from Vazquez in his first few starts wasn’t who he really is. Even if he continues on this very same pace, he’s due to get us 12 wins this season. Don’t forget that he’s our fourth starter. AJ Burnett got us 13 wins as our second starter last year. I will be happy with 12 wins from Javy.

One beat writer wrote: “The Orioles made Javy look good.”

See, I have a big problem with a comment like that. Whenever Vazquez pitches well, it’s because the other team’s lineup made him look good. I suppose in his great start against the Tigers, they made him look good. The Mets also happened to make Javier Vazquez look good. When will this incessant hatred end?

His good performances this year were all due to his good pitching. The opposing lineups didn’t make him look good, he made himself look good. While sometimes it’s a bit of a stretch to give the win to a starting pitcher, because our lineup hits well enough to earn the win, I have no problem giving Javier Vazquez his wins. Why? Because for some reason, our lineup is asleep when he’s on the mound. Maybe because he’s always up against a tough opponent in the pitching match-ups, who knows? All I know is that in Javy’s starts, he has to pitch his heart out, because he gets little run support. So when he gets the win, it’s the result of a great effort.

Enough with the hate, people. Javier Vazquez is back on track. Try showing support for your own starting pitcher.

Considering how crappy the Yankees have been this past week, I’m not about to get picky over how we win. I just want us to win.

Javier Vazquez pitched a 6-inning gem. He finished the sixth inning with 70 pitches, and could have pitched for at least another two innings. Why didn’t he? Because he hurt his finger while laying down a bunt. Boy, isn’t that the way this year seems to be going for Javy? Can’t catch a freaking break. If it isn’t the weather, it’s a bruised finger. I hope he doesn’t miss a start over this.

It’s a good thing our offense managed to score a couple of runs, because they were absolutely comatose after that.

Don’t get me started on our offense. I don’t understand what their deal is. Yes, I know that the team as a whole is suffering from injuries, but what does that have anything to do with the hitters that are healthy? They’re not producing either!

The lineup isn’t like the bullpen. If a relief pitcher is injured, the entire bullpen suffers, because they’ll have to be overworked to compensate. In the batting lineup, our hitters are expected to hit every day, so an injury in the bottom of the lineup has no effect on the top of the order. I don’t understand what is wrong with our hitters, all I know is that it better get fixed soon.

Other teams are gaining ground, and we need to wake up soon.

I’m not going to go on any further. It was a win, so it was good. Like I said, I’m not particularly proud of it, but hey, when you’ve had the week that we’ve had, you’ll take a win any way you can get it.

Which one tastes sweeter? Yankees fans across the globe will agree that it’s the latter.

On a night where things didn’t look to be going the Yankees’ way, two swings of our bats turned this game from the worst loss of the season, to the best win of the season so far. Why? Because it was our first walk-off win of the year!

Oh, and it didn’t hurt that it happened against the Red Sox, and specifically off of Jonathan Papelbon.

After many walk-off wins last year, we’ve been feeling a little deprived in 2010. The Yankees have been off to a hot start, despite the injuries, so we have very little to complain about as fans. We have been feeling that something’s been missing, though. That something is: The Pie.

We’ve had many games on the road so far this season, so the opportunity for a walk-off hasn’t presented itself much. In this game, however, it did, and our bats took full advantage of it.

Phil Hughes had a bad start. I wouldn’t read too much into this performance if I were you, we all knew his ERA wouldn’t stay at 1.38 all season. Hughes has enough confidence in his abilities to bounce back from this. Hopefully our clutch hitting gave him a moral boost as well, and he will dominate in his next start.

Our bullpen was absolutely horrendous. I was horrified by what I saw today. Whether it was Boone Logan (I’m heartbroken about this) or Chan Ho Park, our pitching today blew it. Boone Logan at least managed to recover from the solo home run he gave up, and pitched a double-play ball, and fielded the grounder to end the inning. That doesn’t excuse the home run, but it somewhat makes it easier to swallow. Park, on the other hand, got himself into quite a mess (dare I say, he crapped his pants?) and needed Damaso Marte to save him.

Park pitched well in the seventh inning, and kept his sheet clean. He came in to pitch in the eighth, and gave up three runs (two home runs) on four hits, without getting any outs. That wasn’t very pretty, because he also gave up the lead. Damaso Marte came in to keep the deficit at two runs, and recorded the three outs. Marte came back to pitch in the ninth inning, and got two outs, before Javier Vazquez was brought in for the final out.

Vazquez threw five pitches, recorded the final Boston out of the game, and actually received cheers from the crowd at Yankee Stadium. Ironically, that five-pitch strikeout was enough work from Javy to get him his first home win of the season.

After the messiness from every pitcher in this game not named “Javier Vazquez”, the Yankees needed heroics in the bottom of the ninth inning. We needed the Bombers to live up to their names, and give us the lifeline we need to secure a home win.

The Red Sox brought in their self-overrating closer, Jonathan Papelbon, to get the save. We brought in the heart of our lineup to the matchup.

In true Bronx Bombing fashion, Alex Rodriguez came through in the clutch, once again. Anyone who has been doubting A-Rod’s power, can kiss his pinstriped Dominican butt.

With Brett Gardner on base (who has a perfect record against Jonathan Papelbon), Rodriquez dropped an A-Bomb on the Red Sox. He blasted a two-run home run to tie the game. At the very least, we were going into extra innings, so we were happy that we hadn’t lost the game.

How many times has A-Rod come through in the clutch for us? I lost count. All I know is that I am thankful he’s a Yankee. I would hate to be the team that has to face him.

This clutch home run from Rodriguez can be added to the game-winning home run against the Twins. I think we can safely say that A-Rod’s slugging is back from its early hiatus.

Alex Rodriguez was one of our two heroes on the night. We’re used to having him as our hero, so very few of us were surprised by his home run. We were ecstatic, and we were cheering like crazy, but it came as no surprise.

I don’t know about you, but our second hero was a huge surprise to me.

Marcus Thames asks: “Melky, who?”

Okay, I think we’ve pretty much disproved the insane claim by some fans, that we need Melky Cabrera to get walk-off wins. While Melky seemed to shine in the walk-off role last season, Marcus Thames is here to tell us that he can do that, too.

Marcus Thames hit a walk-off home run. Who would have guessed?

I most certainly did not predict this. In the seventh inning, I did predict that we would get a walk-off win off of Jonathan Papelbon (and my Twitter Faithful will confirm this). I never imagined that it would co
me off of the bat of Marcus Thames.

After Papelbon hit Cervelli with a pitch, and put him on base, Marcus Thames came up to the plate thinking “Oh no you di’iiiiiin’t!” and quickly made him pay. He connected with the very first pitch he saw from the Boston closer, and blasted it for a two-run home run.

Thames gave us our first walk-off home run of the year, and he got the first walk-off home run of his career.

If we win our 28th World Series Championship this year, you know that this Marcus Thames home run will be in the 2010 highlights reel.

In the first game of a double-header (due to the rain the night before), Javier Vazquez took to the mound to try and get the turning point he so desperately needs.

That, he did. Javy pitched wonderfully, and gave us seven complete innings, giving up two runs on five hits, walking two, and striking out seven. His season’s ERA went down by a run and a half, and it looks as though his good pitching is back. I guess he really did need that start of his skipped, to catch his breath.

I had a good feeling about Vazquez pitching in this game, before the game started. I mentioned it on Twitter that I felt that this game w
ould be the turning point of Javy’s season. Step one of my prediction is complete, now he has to build on what he did in this game, and start getting us some wins.

Too bad the guy can’t seem to catch a break.

The Yankees offense was absolutely horrendous. Just completely comatose. Yes, they were facing Rick Porcello, who is a good pitcher, but this kid isn’t exactly Justin Verlander (whom we face in the final game of the series). He’s not unhittable. Yet our offense chose to make him look like the second-coming of Cy Young in this game.

I’m not going to go into detail about my disappointment in our bats during this game. I honestly wouldn’t know where to begin. We had four hits in the game. FOUR! In nine innings, we managed to connect the bat to the ball successfully, four times. How pathetic.

I’m beyond angry about this. Not because it’s a loss. Losses happen, and it’s only May so who really cares about one little loss? I’m upset about this loss in particular, because Javy so desperately needed a win here. He worked his butt off to get the win, but our bats didn’t seem to share his determination.

Boone Logan came in to pitch a perfect eighth inning, and erased the disappointment of the game before. I’m sorry I got angry at you, Boone, you came back to remind me of why I wanted you on this team in the first place.

Boom Boom Boone.

All in all, Javier Vazquez can’t seem to catch a [expletive] break. When it’s not the fans booing him, or his mechanics/mentality letting him down, it’s our offense not backing him up. Shame on you, Yankees Offense, for not working as hard as Vazquez did to get the win.

You better make up for it in the second game of the day/night doubleheader.

… I want to keep defending you, I really do. You’re making it very difficult for me, though.

I almost didn’t want to write this blog post, because I’ve exhausted the topic of Javier Vazquez. I still have faith that he’ll turn it around, but I’m pretty frustrated. I’m frustrated, but I haven’t given up hope. I want to see him do well, I want to see him succeed. Obviously, Javy succeeding will lead to the Yankees succeeding. I also want him to do well because it would be a great comeback in the Bronx. After the miserable end to his first stint with us, I really wanted to see Javier Vazquez come back to New York and dominate.

He can still do it, there’s plenty of time left in the season. He just needs to address the mechanical problems behind his horrible fastball. His fastball was his strength, he doesn’t have it right now. His current fastball is lifeless and, well, not so fast. Losing his strong pitch has caused him to also lose confidence in his pitching, which is natural. You don’t want a pitcher on the mound with no confidence. The game is largely mental, especially for pitchers. He will regain his confidence once he regains his good fastball. Until then…

… we wait.

I still have confidence in him, as crazy as that may seem righ
t now. He is exercising my patience, though. Testing it. I will be patient. Worst-case scenario, he continues to do poorly, and we don’t use him in the postseason.

I can’t write about Vazquez anymore. I just can’t. I believe he will turn it around, but he needs a little bit of time to straighten out his mechanics. It’s not like he’s a young rookie who doesn’t know how to handle the big leagues on a mental level. He’s just an experienced pitcher who’s lost his way. He’ll find it again. I know he will.

This is what Javy had to say: “It’s tough, I can’t hide that. But I promise everybody I’m going to keep working hard at it and battle through it.”

… and I promise to keep having faith that you will battle through it, Javy.

I’m not going to go into great detail about the “glove incident” in the third inning. Ozzie Guillen said he had nothing to do with it. Yeah, right; and I have nothing to do with what I’m about to say:

Kiss my a**, Ozzie.

Vazquez had been using that very same glove for a few years now, yet no one said anything. Let’s assume that a new rule was implemented for gloves this year. Well, Vazquez has used that glove in his previous starts, and no one said anything. Let’s assume that the new rule was implemented minutes before the start of the game. Well, JJ Putz used the same glove, later on in the game, except the colors were reversed. You guessed it, no one said anything.

Ozzie, methinks you doth protest too much.

What difference does it make, Ozzie? Was Vazquez really killing you out there, forcing you to mess with him? It was pretty low to mess with Vazquez’s head like that, it doesn’t need any more messing with. I doubt it had much to do with Javy’s performance, but it was still pretty annoying to see.

From one frustration to another…

Curtis Granderson pulled a groin muscle and landed on the Disabled List. That’s just [expletive] great.

What does this mean for the Yankees? Well, in practice, it means that we’ll have to depend on Joe Girardi’s management much more than we did before. Curtis Granderson’s bat wasn’t exactly the hottest in the lineup in April, but then again neither was A-Rod’s or Teixeira’s. He was still great to have in the lineup, and even better to have in the outfield.

Now, with Grandy on the DL, we’ll probably see a platoon between Randy Winn and Marcus Thames in left field. Thames’ bat has been hot, but his fielding is atrocious. Winn’s fielding is wonderful, but his bat leaves much to be desired. It’ll all come down to the right balance between the two, to make up for Granderson’s absence. Brett Gardner will be moved to center field, and the platoon will take over left. The right balance must be found by Joe Girardi.

While it makes me quite uneasy to depend so much on Girardi’s management, the man knows what he’s doing, more often than not, when it comes to hitting. I said “more often than not”, so don’t attack me with “remember Jeter bunting in the postseason?” in an attempt to refute my statement. Girardi makes a lot of good decisions most of the time, but when he messes up, he really does mess up.

Let’s hope that he gets it right. I’m choosing to remain optimistic.

One good thing about this game was that it proved my thoughts on Sergio Mitre wrong. I didn’t want him on the roster to begin with, because I assumed that all of our starting pitchers would eat up innings. Our starters (except for Javy) have been pitching deep into games, so we haven’t seen much of Mitre. My mistake was that I assumed Vazquez would gobble up innings like he has his entire career. If I’ve learned anything from John Sterling, it’s that you can’t predict baseball.

So, I admit that I was 100% wrong about Sergio Mitre. Having him on the roster is necessary. No shame in being wrong, as long as I admit my mistake, and learn from it.

Sergio Mitre pitched well in long-relief of Javier Vazquez. We might see him make a few spot starts this season, when our pitchers need their starts skipped for whatever reason.

Another good thing about this game was Boone Logan. He only faced one batter, and I still don’t like the whole “LOOGY” role, but I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about Boone’s pitching. His fastball was F.I.L.T.H.Y.

He threw four pitches. Four pitches were enough. His first three pitches were clocked at 95 MPH, and his final pitch was clocked at 97 MPH. I heard that the Yankees actually clocked it at 98, but the scoreboard showed 97. Either way, that is NASTY. Three straight 95ers, then a 97 to end it? What more can you ask from a reliever? Maybe he’ll start to get a little more respect from the fans now.

If he keeps that velocity up, he could prove to be a very valuable asset in our bullpen. He’s sure beating his fellow lefty reliever, Damaso Marte, so far. I’m glad we have Logan on the roster now. He needs to stay focused. This could be his “break out” year.

You’re supposed to take your first win as a turning point and build on it to get more wins. That’s what you’re supposed to do. You’re not supposed to go back to losing. You’re never supposed to lose. You’re sup
posed to give us 30 wins in the season. Anything less than that is unacceptable.

Welcome back to the Yankees, Javier Vazquez. Welcome back to the team with which you’re not allowed to give up a run, or ever come close to it. You’re giving up runs in April, Javy. Bad boy. Very very bad.

Brian Cashman is an idiot for bringing you back to New York. You obviously have no business being there. You’re infecting our team with your loser stench. You shouldn’t have been here in the first place.

Don’t you dare give me the “It’s only April, I need time to warm up” excuse. You know that argument doesn’t cut it in the Bronx. Mechanics mean nothing. Needing time to retune your mechanics after the offseason, is just a lame excuse that losers use for being bad.

Good job showing us that you’re still “Game 7 Javy”.

You need to be moved to the bullpen. You obviously don’t belong in the starting rotation. Sergio Mitre should take your rotation spot. Actually, you’d ruin our bullpen, too. You need to be sent down to the minors, and we should call up Kei Igawa to replace you on the roster.

Don’t give me the “I’m a Major League veteran, with thirteen Major League seasons under my belt, and my contract has no options” excuse. We are Yankees fans. We don’t care about silly things like “common sense” and “logic”. You need to be removed from our active roster, and Joe Girardi needs to be fired for putting you there.

I don’t care if many pitchers are known for having slow starts to their seasons. Don’t give me that tired old excuse. You’re no longer human, you’re a Yankee. You are being paid money to be a robot. Don’t you get it? Statistics are everything in baseball! Your numbers are atrocious.

You will never amount to anything. Hand in your pinstripes, Javy, and just retire. You will never recover from a 1-3 start to the season.

What’s that, you say? CC Sabathia, while much better than you, had a 1-3 start to the season last year?

Oh, damn. You average more innings and strikeouts than Sabathia? Whatever. You don’t have a World Series ring. You suck.

You know you can’t compare yourself to CC Sabathia, so don’t even try.

I don’t care if you’re just as much of a work-horse as he is. I don’t care if you also pitch 200+ innings a year, and get over 200 strikeouts. None of that means anything when you’re our fourth starter.

Haven’t you heard, Vazquez? The fourth rotation spot belongs to the staff Ace now. Just because you’re our No. 4, doesn’t mean you can slack off and give us 13 wins in the season. If you don’t win at least 20 games as our fourth starter, you’re a failure.

Don’t you dare tell me that 13 wins from a fourth starter is good. So what if our No. 2 starter gave us 13 wins last year? SO [expletive] WHAT? We’re the reigning World Champions, you must have a winning record after four starts. You must.

Since you have a losing record in April, you deserve to be released. Sergio Mitre should pitch instead of you, at least he has a World Series ring. Cody Ransom has a World Series ring, and you don’t. Therefore, you’re worse to us than Cody Ransom was. I can’t believe we let him go, and put you on the roster.

We’re doomed.

We are going to boo you when you come back for a home game. Yes, we are. You deserve it. I don’t care if you win every game from now on, and help us win the World Series. You will always be “Game 7 Javy” to us.

I hate you, Javy. I hate you. How dare you ruin our April? How dare you?! Can’t you see that our April is destroyed because of you? Because of your horrible pitching, our Yankees are off to a miserable 12-6 start to the season! We should be 18-0!

So what if you showed class in the post-game interviews? Who cares about that? Being classy and blaming yourself for the loss is meaningless. Class means nothing. Winning means everything. Get with the damn program, Vazquez. You’re not in Kansas anymore.

Don’t you know that divisions are won and lost in the first month of the season? You’re ruining us, Javier. You’ve ruined our bid for the repeat! You’ve killed our chances at winning our 28th World Series Championship!

You, sir, are a disgrace.

Javier Vazquez, you are a disgrace to the pinstripes you wear. Coming into the season as the World Series champions no longer means anything, now that you’ve started the season so poorly.

You are our curse in life. Every loss we get this season is your fault. Just like every loss in 2004 was your fault. I don’t care if you’re not on the mound, whenever we lose, we are going to blame you.

I hope you get released soon, while we still have a chance to win the Wild Card.

…

Damn, I have an awesome poker face. I managed to write all of that bullsh*t without laughing.

If you agree with what I wrote in this blog post, do the Yankees a favor and go root for another team. You’re a disgrace to the Yankees fanbase.

Sorry for the brief hiatus, but I’m currently on vacation. Well, I’m on “vacation”. Sort of like when your aunt checks into rehab, and your parents tell you she’s on vacation.

No, I’m not in rehab, nor do I need to be. It’s a long story that has to do with my work visa for the United Arab Emirates.

Let’s just say, I should probably start wearing one of these:

I’m on “vacation”. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

I think I’m going to start something new with some of my blog posts. I’ve seen it on other blogs, and I thought I’d give it a try. I’m always listening to music while I write my posts. I just put my iPod on “shuffle” and let it play in my ears while I write. So, I’ll include “Now Playing” lines in my post for this game.

Now Playing: Nirvana – “Rape Me”

The Yankees started off the series against the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night. Well, it was Wednesday morning for me, given the time difference. The game started at 6:05 a.m. Dubai Time, and I went into work early so that I could watch the entire game, uninterrupted, in my office. Yes, I’m that dedicated to my work and the Yankees.

Thank you, MLB.tv, for being my lifeline while I’m away from home.

Javier Vazquez got his first win of the season. I’m glad he did, he needs another win before going back home. Maybe if he comes home with two wins on the road under his belt, and a nice 2-2 record, the fans would go easy on him. Dare I say, the fans might even *gasp* cheer for him?

Yeah, right.

Overall, his pitching wasn’t mind-blowing, but it was good enough to get the win. I have all the faith in the world that Vazquez is only warming up. He’s still getting it together.

He’ll get it together. Don’t you worry. Once I start to worry, that’s when you’ll need to start worrying.

Remember Sabathia at the start of last season? Things will get better for Javy, because there are no major mechanical problems. He needs to add life to that fastball of his, then everything will work out. I think the next start of his is a decider on how he’ll do this season. A starting pitcher’s fourth start of the season is when we can truly begin to judge him. So, we’ll have to see.

Now Playing: Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars.

Sometimes, I feel like headlines are written purely to cause trouble. Yes, I’m aware that journalists/writers have to do what it takes to come up with headlines that grab readers’ attention, and nothing grabs attention like a headline showing a Yankee struggling. Some of these headlines, however, are pretty lame.

Take the wrap for this game, for example. I’m a fan of Bryan Hoch’s. I read his work regularly, and I enjoy it. I think he does a great job reporting our Yankees for MLB.com.

I’m sorry, but has a pitcher ever “tallied” a win without help? The starting pitcher can pitch nine innings of shutout baseball, and if the offense isn’t awake, he won’t get the win. Call me crazy, but I believe that a run needs to be scored for your team to win. Furthermore, without the fielders helping, the pitcher can’t win. Maybe in the National League, if the pitchers strikes out every single batter he faces in nine innings, and then hits a home run, you can say he got the win unassisted.

When was the last time that happened? My guess is: never.

Anyway, I’m just being anal about this. It doesn’t mean anything, but this is my blog and I can write about whatever annoys me. Lame headlines annoy me.

The “help” the article was referring to, was mainly Alex Rodriguez’s home run in the sixth inning.

Now Playing: The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony.

BREAKING NEWS: A man in Tokyo was rushed to the hospital after being hit in the head with an unidentified object falling from the sky at great speed. It knocked him unconscious, but he woke up in the hospital and seems to be doing fine now. Upon further examination, the falling object was identified to be a baseball. The ball in question is Alex Rodriguez’s home run ball. It flew out of Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, and landed back on Earth today, across the Pacific.

What a monster shot from A-Rod! It’s nice to see him back to his homering ways after starting off the season with a minor dry spell. His dry spell was very minor in relation to Mr. Mark Teixeira’s.

Mark Teixeira is off to yet another slow April. I can’t understand his regular slow starts. I see no logic behind them. Tex is one of the best hitters in the league, yet he is known for being near comatose in the first month of the season. What’s the reason for this? I don’t see anything different in his swing. Am I missing something? Why does this only happen to him in April? He doesn’t suffer from any major slumps later on in the season.

Is it a mental thing? Has it become a self-fulfilling prophecy?

You can see the frustration on his face when he strikes out or flies out. You can also see our frustration, as fans, when he does so. No one is slaughtering him for this, and I’m not going to, either. No one should be throwing him under a bus, because even with an average in the 100’s, Teixeira is contributing to the team defensively. Also, we know he’ll get over it, as we’ve seen before. When he finally starts hitting, watch out. He’ll have an entire month of not-hitting, to make up for. You know he will do it.

However, it’s starting to get annoying. We’re in the final week of April, Mark. Start hitting now. Thanks.

People who drafted him in their Fantasy Baseball leagues now know that if you draft Teixeira, you have to draft another first baseman as a backup for April. Only God knows why.

Now Playing: John Lennon – Imagine

“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope some day you’ll join us, and the world will be as one.”

The best part of the game was seeing how patient our hitters were at the plate. They worked walk after walk from the Oakland pitchers, forcing Gonzalez to be taken out of the game in the fifth inning. I like seeing our hitters make a pitcher work hard. Yankees drew a total of ten walks against the A’s pitching that game. We saw a couple of 10-pitch at-bats. That’s what we all love to see. Keep it up, boys. That’s how you win it.

Also something I enjoyed seeing: Boone Logan making his Yankees debut.

Overall, I’m happy with his performance, especially since it was his first outing in pinstripes. Well, in grays.

He came in to relieve Vazquez with one out in the sixth inning, and retired the two batters he faced. Then, Girardi put him back on the mound in the seventh inning, hoping that he can take the game to Joba in the eighth. Logan retired two batters in the seventh, then “slow” fielding from Derek Jeter allowed a runner on base (it was recorded as a hit, so I’m not blaming Jeter for this). After that, Boone seemed to lose his groove. He then walked a batter, and allowed another hit to load up the bases. With the bases loaded, Joe Girardi took the ball from Logan, and gave it to Joba, who got us out of that situation unscathed.

Despite loading up the bases, I liked what I saw from Boone Logan. Again, this was his first outing of the season. At least he didn’t allow any runs like some of our other relievers did in their first outings. I read somewhere that Dave Eiland has been working with Logan on his pitches, and that accounts for the difference between the Boone Logan of the past, and the Boone Logan of today. In the past, however, his fastball was clocked in the upper 90s, where as now it’s lingering around 92-93 MPH. With his newfound command, he needs to get his velocity back up and he’ll be a solid bullpen arm.

I’m happy the Yankees are taking a chance on him. He can prove to be a valuable asset to us this year. If not now, then definitely later on in the season.

Boom Boom Boone.

Now Playing: Metallica – Orion

Overall, good game for the Yankees, especially for Javier Vazquez. Hopefully his next start, against the Angels, will get him another win. He needs to start bringing wins home if he wants to be cheered in the Bronx.